co-pay to doctor - cash only?
 

Made my first doctors appointment ever that had a co-pay. When I made the appointment they said they accept cash only for the co-pay. That sounds kind of weird.

Is that the norm these days?

Yes, a lot of doctors have went to cash only. I can't really blame them.

Yes Cash

Just say "Obama will get it"

Wow, times have changed. Guess when I told them it had been 20+ years they decided I should know about the major changes.

What's co-pay?

some Dr. offices charge a co-pay along with the health ins payment. say the ins picks up $100 or whatever and the Dr's charges $20 in cash on the spot. been doing that for 10+ years that I know off.

Thanks for the explanation.

My doctor doesn't have these terms as of yet, but one thing that pisses me, is they want the co pay in advance prior to services being rendered.
I think the reason they do this is once they have your money they know you won't leave the office after waiting 45 min to an hour to see the doctor after your scheduled appointment.

I get around it by telling them that once they call my name, I will pay the co pay and not until then, this way I can get up and leave anytime if the wait is too long ;)

You just explained what a co-pay is, not why they require cash.

I always pay with credit card. If my people start requiring cash that's really going to suck, I never carry cash.

Interesting. If I don't go up to the counter and tell them I'm ready to pay my co-pay, they don't even bother. They just send a bill.

Small city I guess...

Co-pays keep going up. $25 this year three years ago it was $10.

$50 to see a specialist, and $1200 for a hospital stay.

None of my doctors, dentists or specialists have required cash only, that is ridiculous. It's not a pawn shop.

$1200 copay for emergency care? That's more than twice my yearly deductible.

got a better deal at the dentist paying cash

how would I know why they wants cash???

Serious question.

What options does a person without insurance or money have when they need medical help?

Go to the ER, get "it" taken care of, cut off, lasered, removed, destroyed, sewn up, reattached, etc.... then leave. Wait a few months for the hospital to send you to collection, then ignore their calls. In a few years, they'll give up or sue you. :2 cents:

As for the cash copay, well shit.... would you take credit from people these days? Not me. Cash only baby.

Federally-funded health center

Don't listen to the stoners. :1orglaugh

Oh, yeah dentist can get expensive. My insurance only has a $1500 yearly limit, one crown was like $800. :Oh crap

Sure. What are they going to do, chargeback? I mean they could, but what's the likelihood of that? My guess is that the cash requirement is because the doctor may be tight on funds so they want instant money (waiting for a credit card money can take a bit) or maybe they are skimming some under the table? Or even to save on fees. I was that a restaurant last week and they took 5% off the bill if you paid in cash as opposed to credit card. That 5% would not cover the credit card fees, but it is instant money and would allow them to skim a little under the table.

1.) Prayer
2.) Debt delinquency

As an almost unrelated side note, I just bought a kick-ass new bicycle for excercise

It was $1,000 and the store owner asks if I can pay cash, due to "problems with the bank"

I give him a look and he says "it's getting more difficult for us to accept credit cards" -- and this is an authorized retail outlet for a major mountain bike line that has been in the same location for at least several years and maybe much longer.

They needed time to get the bike setup for me, so I went to the bank.

Oh and Lloyd, 20 years is too long at your age. Not to start a Saturday off by thinking about this, but you need your asshole fingered at least every 5 years so yer nut don't fall off...

I haven't seen this anywhere. Sounds pretty shady if you ask me. A doctor doesnt want to pay the 1-3% for transaction fee. Is this just for Co-pay? What if you did not have insurance. Can you pay for an entire treatment with CC with this doctor? If a doctor doesn't have atleast an online CC processing method. I would look elsewhere for help. Any good doctor that has a good practice takes CC.

Thanks for the answer.

I've been paying the price for spending my life working outdoors and playing at the beach. I've had to go to the dermatologists several times to have skin cancer removed. So far it's been the basal squamous type and it's a quick procedure. Without insurance each spot cost about $500 to remove including the pathology. I've had seven procedures so far paying cash out of my pocket at the time of the visit.

Times are tough and I have three spots on my leg right now and I'm letting them ride because I don't have the cash to get them removed right now. They need to be taken care of but it's not urgent.

What's always on my mind is what I would do if I get melanoma which requires immediate attention. With no money or insurance I've always figured I'd have to just let it play out.

Remember, the statute of limitations on debt varies by state... not even sure what it is for California, I think it's 3 or 4 years.... at that point, it's un-collectible. (Unless they've sued you and have a judgment, then you're fucked unless you BK the debt.) But if you can dodge them long enough and somehow get lucky and not get a judgment against you before the statute runs out, you're in the clear.

Seems odd they'd require cash. I've got a HSA with a cc so I'd tell em to fuckoff

That is such ridiculous advice to give out..:disgust The debt might be uncollectible after a certain period, (if they don't sue you) but it stays on your credit report as derogatory for 7 years.

I'm assuming you guys just don't plan on being homeowners or having a decent car with reasonable interest rates for the next 7 years? Incredibly irresponsible and just stupid to intentionally do that without exhausting other options.
http://onestopcreditreport.com/how_l...credit_report/

Go get health insurance, I pay $160 a month for FULL COVERAGE PPO INSURANCE with a $500 deductible. That includes dental, and it's $25 per office visit and $50 for emergency care.

If you need something like a cancer mole removed, go find a federally funded facility. However, you have to make under a certain amount of money yearly to qualify for it.

http://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/Se...CC_byAddr.aspx

Wow that's a great deal. Do you have a day job that you get that through or is it through some group or as a self-employed person?

Self employed, Top Bucks pays my insurance premiums. :winkwink:

I actually got the plan through ehealthinsurance.com

It's blue cross blue shield PPO, $10 copay on generic prescriptions as well.

http://j.imagehost.org/0868/health.jpg

I'm only 28 though, non-smoker, pretty straight forward medical history. If you read the ratings on there it's people complaining that "it's too expensive", which is ridiculous. For full coverage insurance with that low of a deductible it's actually very affordable.

I was stating the facts based on "what do you do if you need medical attention and have no insurance & no money". You go to the ER. That's solid advice. The other option is to treat yourself or go untreated. I suppose you could always ask someone for a personal loan, but if the attention you need is life-threatening, you probably won't have time.

As for the rest, I was simply pointing out what the normal progression of unpaid, unsecured debt follows if you do nothing to resolve it. It wasn't advice, it's just reality.

Finally, what things you assume is your business. I'm not really interested in your assumptions.

He can go to a federally health care facility to have his moles removed. That's what I'm pointing out. Also, under certain circumstances they will waive the fee if you bring up your situation instead of running out of there and waiting for the bill.

However, sorry, I quoted you but I meant to quote the above post to yours as well.

.

These 'health centers' are nothing more than walk in clinics and 90% of them are in the hood. I'm sure they are qualified to treat cancer. :helpme

depends on the office..

Actually I was told medical debt doesn't affect your credit score... unless they changed it with the new obama health laws.

You were told wrong.

$25 x 8 minutes of face time = $187.5 an hour... That paid for the nurse, the receptionist and the lights/water/gas... Then they made gravy off of your insurance company...

Check to see if they have sliding scale clinics in your area. A friend of mine goes to one of the clinics here in Phoenix. They ask what you make a month and then they determine what you pay. There is also a dental school here that takes patients twice a month. They are students in training, but they have dentists there watching over them. I heard it is cheap as hell for the patient and it helps the students. I am sure if you looked around you would find similar places near you.

No, they're just chop shop clinics in someone's backyard. There's a guy I know who's basically living off welfare, he's needed several procedures; none of which he paid for.

The first one was an emergency appendicitis at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where they waived the fee entirely and then later pancreatitis at some 'health clinic' where it was free because of his financial situation.

Having a cancerous mole removed is not brain surgery, he's not going to die if he truly can't afford health insurance.

The doctors at those clinics are board certified and trained just as any doctor, (by law).

:thumbsup Many hospitals and specialists will work with you as long as you're up-front about your situation.

Thats all fine and dandy if you need a penicillin shot but if you have life threatening needs you're fucked.

The republican solution to health care in the US. :1orglaugh

The dermatologist I was going to was giving me a break and I would tell them up front how much I could afford and they would do what they could.

One time I had a small spot to remove on my face. It was located just under my eye socket and above the cheek. I talked with the doctor about my situation and he said he would remove it and a plastic surgeon would close it up for a total of $400.

So the first doctor scrapes it out and even though the cancer spot was tiny by the time he had it all dug out I had a hole in my face about the size of a nickel and deep enough for the nickel to fit flush inside it. I'm talking about something that looked like a tiny, clear pimple. I was actually shocked when I looked in the mirror.

So that doctor leaves the room and the plastic surgeon comes in and doesn't want to do the stitching. He asked me what I did for a living and I told him I was a photographer. He says " so you're behind the camera and not in front of it so it's not really going to matter if you have a big circular scar on your face. I was shocked.

He sees the look on my face after telling me that and then said he'd stitch it up. It took him about a minute and a half and I don't know how he did it but it completely closed up the hole and it healed perfectly. There is no way anyone can tell that I had that hole there.

That situation has kind of turned me off of going out and haggling for my health care :Oh crap

Anyways, thanks to everyone that offered suggestions and I now feel that I at least have a few options.

I had a plastic surgeon tell me this enhanced my image, so he did not want to do anything about it.


http://juliablue.com/badfight.jpg

If its the 1st time seeing the doctor they usually ask for cash, once you build a relationship with them a check will be fine.

My co-pay for allergy shots is now $50 since my boss changed HMO's, so I just got on my wife's insurance too...now it's free since her's will pick up the co-pay fee. Going twice a month would get expensive if I had to pay. Years ago a general doctor would fix you right up...now everything is a specialist.

I don't want to write a check. I would just use my debit card like I do everything else. My co-pay is only $15, I usually have at least a $20 on me.

mine all accept cash, check, and CC no problems.